No matter how much power, influence, or money you have, you cannot purchase more time. It is the great equalizer and a consistent challenge for both my individual and team clients. “If we just had more time…” or “It is just overwhelming with all that I have to do and I don’t seem to have enough time…”
It is about both creating more time and energy to efficiently use that time. Here are a few of the most impactful practices and habits that will serve you well in creating more energy and time.
1. Keep track of your time and be diligent about guarding it from waste. Don’t just let an hour be sucked away by a sparkly distraction (see last week’s post about thriving on line).
2. Question everything in your schedule and then question it again. What can you re-prioritize or move to a better time (see number 3) or not do at all (see number 4)?
3. Know how you work and when you are most productive. If you have a challenging project or client then schedule them in your peak brain time (for some this is early, others mid-day or late).
4. Stop doing some of the items on your list. In this prior post I wrote about creating time (linked) I reference Peter Drucker’s classic book, “The Effective Executive” where he states, “It is amazing how many things busy people are doing that will never be missed.”
5. Schedule project and/or thinking time like it is an appointment with an important customer on your calendar. This is important for allowing you to be more efficient and focused in completing your project items.
6. Change your mindset in how you think about your time. If you continually think (or even worse say), “I just don’t have enough time” then everything around you will align to make that true. Replace this with another thought such as, “I am productively working through all my tasks and getting a lot done.”
7. Take a high quality short break. This means really resting or moving your focus on to something completely different. This will increase your energy and ability to be more efficient. Examples of some 5-minute breaks: Walk around the building or across the street and back, sit with your eyes closed and do some deep breathing, do a puzzle or other quick game to shift your thinking. If you have 15 minutes, watch a TED talk, here is an interesting one by a woman who works at Gallup, about why the uprisings occurred in the middle east.
8. Focus, focus and more focus. Stay on task and in the moment. This sounds so “duh!” and easy and yet notice how often your thoughts wonder into the past or future and you will realize that it is a practice in discipline to stay focused on task. Just keep practicing and you will get better and better at it.
9. Notice those things that you repeatedly do and find a way to automate or shift them to reduce their time. A simple example for me is in organizing my desk. I have a specific area for client files and a tracking system for appointments so that I am not spending any time looking for files or searching for appointment times.
10. Exercise and sleep. This is a big challenge when things get really crazy busy, it is tempting to cut time for one or both. This leads to less energy and lower efficiency and then more time needed. It is a viscous cycle. Both are key for thriving in your work and life.
Please share a comment about what has worked well for you to create more energy and time.
Photo credit via Flickr creative commons: Telstar Logistics
Here is another perspective to consider … maybe it isn’t about creating more time and energy but slowing down to connect to our own vitality. Information about Abby Seixas’s book, “Finding the Deep River Within” and stories from people who have read it can be found on this website. http://www.deepriverwithin.com/findingdeepriver.html
One more thought — I just read this Zen adage….”You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes every day — unless you are too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”
Thank you Joanne! I love both of your comments and appreciate your insights and sharing of the “Finding the Deep River Within” book. It looks like a great resource and wonderful compliment to my internalGPS! I regularly spend 20 minutes of meditation as the Zen adage states and unfortunately shorten it rather than lengthen it when I am busy. It seems counter intuitive, especially in our “go, go, go” world and at the same time I can see how more time meditating would help my internalGPS function better. Thanks again.